A history of Scioto County, Ohio, together with a pioneer record, Part 103

Author: Evans, Nelson W. (Nelson Wiley), 1842-1913
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: Portsmouth, O. N. W. Evans
Number of Pages: 1612

USA > Ohio > Scioto County > A history of Scioto County, Ohio, together with a pioneer record > Part 103

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Our subject was educated in the common schools, and did not learn any trade. He labored on his father's farm until he was about fifteen years of age, then he began to run machinery wherever steam was employed. He worked for Dr. Offnere in the old Red Mill, as engineer for a year. He began steamboating for Samuel Coles on the steamer "Home" from Cincinnati to Pittsburg, as engineer. He went to Franklin Furnace and was engineer for Dan Young in 1837. The year 1838 he spent on his father's farm four miles below Ports- mouth. In 1839, he made a trip to New Orleans on a flat boat, and while there became an engineer on a steamboat on the Yazoo river. He built the steamboat "Reliance," and was her master in 1841. He was then a steamboat engineer for two years. Then he was off the river for one year; and in the meantime ran a flat boat of corn to New Orleans in 1845, and was at his father's home in 1846. In 1817, he ran the steamboat "St. McClean" from Yazoo to New Or- leans.

He was married August II, 1847, to Elizabeth Smith, daughter of John F. Smith, and her mother Margaret Russell. Directly af- ter his marriage, he went to New Orleans and began running a corn sheller on the steamboat, "Grace Darling," and also shelled corn on the flat boats. He was then employed by the Yazoo Packet Com- pany, to run the packet "Hard Times" from Yazoo city to Vicks- burg, one hundred miles, and he lived in Yazoo city. He was mas- ter and kept at that for four years, when he sold her in 1851. He built the steamboat "Home" in Cincinnati in the summer of 1855. and the "Hope" in 1859, and run her until the war broke out when the Rebels took and sunk herc. Then Capt. Moore stayed at home and fished until he could get a chance to escape the Rebels. Gen. Heron brought an expedition up the Yazoo in 1863, and Capt. Moore

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got in with him and came home. He then went into a partnership with David N. Murray and his brother, Enos B. Moore, in the fall of 1863, as the firm of Murray & Co. In 1878, Murray sold out and a corporation was formed, under which the business has been con- ducted. This corporation was called the Portsmouth Foundry and Machine works. Capt. Moore has had the following children : Lou- isiana, wife of James W. Ricker; Mary: Virginia, married E. B. Greene; Elizabeth, married R. R. Peebles. He has two sons, Enos and John. He has been a communicant of All Saints church for many years.

Captain Moore has been a great reader and accumulated a large collection of books which he sold to the public library of Portsmouth. He is quiet and retired in all his tastes and prefers the fellowship of his books, papers and family to public assemblies. He has taken no interest in political affairs since the war, though he keeps fully in- formed in all public affairs. He has been very successful as a bus- iness man and. devoted all his life's energies in that direction. Capt. Moore died suddenly on Sunday, June 22, 1902.

David Morrison

was born September 16, 1807, in Pennsylvania. He was a nephew of John Loughry. He went from Pennsylvania direct to Rockville to engage in business under Mr. Loughry. He remained with John Loughry from about 1831 to 1841 as superintendent of the business of quarrying and shipping stone. From 1841 to 18.47, he was en- gaged in boating on the Ohio river. He owned a towboat and a number of barges and engaged in transporting heavy goods on the Ohio river. From 1851 to 1859, he resided in Covington, Kentucky. He bought the Judge Mitchell farm, lately owned by his sons, Albert R. and James H. Morrison, removed there in 1859, and resided there until his death, though he never was at any time a farmer, but was always engaged on the river.

He was married to Martha Mitchell, the daughter of Associate Judge David Mitchell, on the 28th day of November, 1835. by Rev. Eleazor Brainard, and they went to housekeeping in Rockville.

He was a large man, weighing over two hundred and fifty pounds and, was always active and energetic. He died suddenly March 23. 1863. from the effects of an operation on his eyes. His wife survived him until March 18, 1886. They both rest in the Mitchell cemetery on the hill overlooking the former home of Judge David Mitchell, her father. They had the following children: Mary, wife of Loyal Wilcox, residing in Kansas, who has a large family and a son and daughter married; Armour Morrison, resides in Chi- cago and is engaged in the life insurance business; Albert R. Mor- rison, married Elizabeth McMasters, now his widow, who resides in the old home in Nile Township, Scioto County ; James H. Morrison, the second son, died September 23, 1901 ; Charles W. Morrison, the

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youngest son, is a teacher of music in the Conservatory of Music at Oberlin College, and has been so engaged for the last twenty-three years. He went there as a young man to study music and after he had completed his studies there and in Europe, he was engaged to teach and has remained ever since. The sons are and were all like their father, active, energetic and industrious men.

David Whittaker Murphy,

son of Recompense Murphy and Catherine Newkirk, his wife, was born in Salem County, New Jersey, in 1800. He was brought by his parents to Adams County when five years old.

This incident occurred when our subject was about twelve years of age. He and another boy near his own age were crossing the Ohio river in a canoe, one sitting at either end. When they had got- ten far into the current, they noticed a large animal swimming to. ward them. It proved to be a bear, nearly grown, and was almost exhausted by its efforts. Seeing them, it made for their canoe and climbed in. The boys, of course, were very much frightened, but nevertheless, continued paddling their canoe to the landing. The moment they touched the shore, bruin sprang out and disappeared. The boys were as glad to be rid of their shaggy companion as he was of their company.

Our subject grew to manhood in Sandy Springs neighborhood, having the advantages of such schools as were there, having the fun and sports that boys of his time were privileged to have. His first wife was a Miss Julia Ann Turner, whom he married in Bracken County, Kentucky. By this marriage there were two sons and a daughter ; James, William, and Anna Maria. The sons both went south before the Civil War, and were soldiers in the Confederate Army. William was Lieutenant of a Mississippi Battery.

David Murphy's second wife was Cynthia Givens, a widow whose maiden name was McCall. The children of this marriage were: David A., married to Jennie M. Ball, of Portsmouth, Ohio. now living at Oxford, O .; Ella M. Evans, wife of Mitchell Evans, & prominent citizen of Scioto County, residing at Friendship, Ohio; Leonidas Hamline, a partner in the recently organized shoe house, The Murphy Shoe Company, of Portsmouth, Ohio; John Fletcher Murphy, a clerk in the Auditor's office of the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern Railway Company, in Cincinnati, and Miss Tillie M. Murphy, residing at Valparaiso, Indiana. Our subject and his sec- ond wife, Cynthia Givens, were earnest members of the Methodist church all their days. Until 1848, he was a farmer, residing in Adams County, Ohio. In that year he left Adams County, and re- moved to Buena Vista, just over the line of Adams County in Scioto County, where he kept a hotel for awhile. He was postmaster at Buena Vista from 1868 until 1873. His home in Buena Vista was

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a delightful one where it was always pleasant to visit. After the death of his second wife, in 1873, he made his home with his daugh- ter, Mrs. Evans, of Friendship, Ohio, until his death in 1892.

Mr. Murphy had a great deal of dry humor and could express himself so as to entertain his hearers and amuse them at the same time. He was always anti-slavery, and once, a long time before the war, being asked if he would help execute the Fugitive Slave Law, he said, "Yes, if called by the United States Marshal to be part of a posse to catch fugitives, I would help, as I must obey the law, but I would be very lame." He served as a Justice of the Peace in the two counties of Adams and Scioto, for a period of fifty years, and his decisions gave general satisfaction. He would draw an ordi- nary deed as well as any lawyer. In politics, he was a Whig, until the Republican party, was organized, when, after 1856, he went into that party and remained a member of it during his life. However, he voted for Fillmore for president in 1856, because he felt that his elec- tion would better preserve the Union. In 1860, he voted for Lin- coln and for every Republican presidential candidate from that time until 1888. his last presidential vote, which was for Benjamin Harri- so11. He died in February, 1892.

Lorenzo Dow Mckinney

was born in Madison Township, Scioto County, Ohio, June 17, 1816, He was the son of Daniel and Catherine (Samson) Mckinney, and a grandson of Daniel Mckinney, one of the first settlers of Scioto County. He lived on the home farm until he grew to manhood, has always followed farming pursuits, and by his own industry has ac- cumulated a large property. He was married September 12, 1841, to Isabinda Stockham, daughter of Joseph and Hannah Stockham, pioneers of Scioto County. She was born February 26, 1819. They were the parents of eight children, two of whom are dead. Those surviving are: William, a farmer of Madison Township: Samantha, wife of Jacob Deemer of Crabtree, Ohio; Ruth, wife of Eli Stout residing in Portsmouth, Ohio; Maria, wife of John Decker residing in Los Angles, California: Charles, in the Steam Shovel Works at Marion, Ohio, and Eliza, residing in Denver, Colorado. His wife died in 1886. He was always a Democrat and at one time was a member of the U. B. church, but is no longer.

He announced his intention of having his funeral preached on his eightieth birthday. The fact was heralded all over the United States and his picture was printed far and wide in all the great news- papers. He was a widower and gave it out that if he survived his funeral he would marry again. That was published broadcast and he was deluged with offers of marriage by mail. His post office was Scioto and the post office was overwhelmed with scented and tender missives. He received over a hundred such offers. They were

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HISTORY OF SCIOTO COUNTY.

from old women, widows with children, widows without children, and young misses. Some of them sent photographs and three of them were from Portsmouth. It is only the eccentric people in this community who attract attention. Lorenzo Dow Mckinney was eighty years old on the 17th day of June, 1896. For twenty-five years, he had been contemplating having his funeral sermon preach- ed if he ever reached his eightieth birthday. The services held in the grove at Fallen Timber were carried out according to his directions. Six weeks previous, he made the matter public and it was published in all the great daily newspapers in this country and even in the Lon- don Times. The place was on the farm of John Diffen, six miles east of Lucasville, Ohio. There were 6,000 to 8,000 people present. The newspaper men present were: C. I. Barker, George Mitchell and Walter C. Taylor of the Blade: E. C. Dover, C. A. Goddard and H. E. Taylor of the Times.

Rev. Forest E. Evans delivered the funeral sermon. He re- sided at Pride in Ross County, Ohio, and Fallen Timber was one of his regular appointments. His text was from II Timothy IV Chapter, 6 verse, "The time of my departure is at hand." It was a funeral without a corpse. Uncle Dow was seated on a round plat- form, surrounded by a dozen newspaper reporters'and listened to his

funeral sermon.

The minister gave some account of him.

The

corpse behaved himself properly only sometimes he talked to persons in the crowd when he ought to have been listening to the sermon. Af- ter the services were concluded, each man, woman and child present filed past the platform and shook hands with the anticipated corpse. It took an hour for the people to bid him farewell. They picniced on the ground and there were services in the afternoon at 2 p. m. and again in the evening. The sentiment, "I would not live always" has no response in Dow Mckinney's heart. He would live always if he could, and enjoy it too.

After his funeral was preached, he took a long trip west, and where he was known, he had an ovation. Everyone who had heard of the man who had had his funeral preached on his eightieth birthday wanted to see him and shake hands with the corpse. Wherever they found him out, Uncle Dow's receptions vied with those of Prince Henry. In all the history of the world, "Uncle Dow," as he is best known. Charles V., of Spain and a Japanese gentleman are the only examples of those who have had their funeral sermons preached while they lived.

Uncle Dow takes life easy. He never worries about anything. That is perhaps the reason he has lived so long. At eighty-six, he can take a tramp like a young man and there is nothing that he enjoys more than a festive occasion. He has outlived all the enmities of life and having a competence, he has nothing to worry about. He resides

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in New Boston with a grand-daughter, Mrs. Thomas Lantz, and does not permit a wave of trouble to roll across his peaceful soul.

Colonel John McDonald

was born in Northumberland County, Pennslyvania, January 28, 1775. His father was William McDonald and his mother Effie McDonald. a distant relative. He was the first born of his parents and had four brothers : Thomas, James, William and Hiram and two sisters : Nancy and Henrietta. Nancy married George Duncan McArthur and Hen- rietta married Presley Morris. His grandfather, Thomas McDonald was a shepherd in Scotland, born near Lock Shin. He came to America in 1772. William McDonald, father of our subject, was a soldier of the Revolutionary War and about 1780 crossed the moun- tains and settled in the Mingo Bottoms near Steubenville, where he re- mained until 1798, when he removed to Washington, Kentucky, where he lived a number of years. He then settled in Ohio. He died near Chillicothe on the 6th of September, 1823, and his wife died on the 10th of September following. They were buried side by side on Fruit Hill. The husband was seventy-eight and his wife sixty-eight.

Our subject learned to be a woodman while his father lived at Steubenville. He was a contemporary with Simon Kenton, General Nathaniel Massie and others, well known pioneers of Ohio. He was so anxious to go with parties from Washington, Ky., to pur- sue Indians, that on one occasion, he stole a rifle and joined a party going in pursuit of the Indians. In the spring of 1792, he joined General Nathaniel Massie's settlement at Manchester and was en- gaged in many dangerous expeditions. During the Indian war, his life was one of extreme hardship and constant peril. He was a boat- man, a hunter, a ranger, and a surveyor. In 1794, in Gen. Wayne's campaign he was a member of a company of seventy-two men, com- manded by Capt. Ephraim Kibby. It was their duty to traverse the country in every direction in front of the regular army.

McDonald was a man of the most unquestionable bravery. per- severing and wonderfully ingenious and surveyed over the entire Vir- ginia district. He was skilled in woodcraft and had a thorough knowledge of Indian habits and tactics. He was courageous enough to attempt any task and he was judicious enough to conduct it to a successful issue. He was of short stature, broad built and heavily muscled and had great physical power and ability to resist fatigue. He was agile and active and always on the alert. He was married on the 5th of February. 1799, to Catharine Cutright, and in 1802, set- tled on Poplar Ridge in Ross County.

He was elected several times as Justice of the Peace and served as a militia officer, being Captain, Major, Lieutenant-Colonel and Col-

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onel. When the war of 1812 broke out, he enlisted in the first regi- ment of Ohio Volunteers and was immediately made Paymaster Gen- eral of the army. He went to Dayton where he accepted this ap- pointment and there was made quartermaster of the regiment and served in both capacities until General Hull's surrender. In 1813, he was made a Captain in the regular army. In 1814, he was a Col- onel of volunteers. He remained in the service until peace was made in 1815.

He entered the Ohio senate December 7, 1816, from Ross Coun- ty and served at the 15th and 16th legislative sessions. On Decem- ber 20, 1816, Lawrence County was organized. During his second session of service, on December 2, 1817, Brown County was organ- ized and Hocking County was organized December 17, 1813. He removed to Portsmouth, Ohio, sometime prior to 1825 and resided on Front street with his family. In that year, he was Captain of one side in a great squirrel hunt, which took place in Scioto County. On March 7, 1837, he was elected a councilman of Portsmouth, for three years, by 27 votes and had no opposition. He served the first year on committee on streets with Doctor Hempstead. In 1828, he was on the committee to repair the public well. November 28, IS29, he vacated his office and William Hall was elected to succeed him. In the year 1827, he was Assessor for Scioto County. He re- turned to his Ross County farm on Poplar Ridge, late in 1829, where he spent the remainder of his days.

In 1834. he began writing his sketches of the pioneers with whom he had been familiarly acquainted. They were first publish- ed in the Western Christian Advocate and four of the more import- ant biographies were published in book form in 1838, and known as "McDonald's Sketches." The prospectus of his work was publish- ed in the Portsmouth papers. When published it sold for seventy- five cents but the books are rare now and a copy sells for five dollars. He was not an educated man but he possessed a strong and vigorous mind. As an author, he was very modest and was very reticent in regard to himself, a matter much to be regretted by readers of this day who would like to know more about him. His work was valua- ble beyond his fondest hope, and has given him a place in the minds and hearts of the thinking people of the present time, which he never thought to fill. His early years were spent in the midst of excitement, toil and conflict. The later years of his life were occu- pied in the promotion of public good and almost every work of ma- terial and moral improvement and every benevolent enterprise found in him an unselfish friend and warm supporter. He died September 11, 1853, after a long and lingering illness, having survived his wife over three years and his intimate friend General Nathaniel Massie over forty years.

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Col. John McDonald had the following children : Effie, born on the 15th day of January, 1801, married Henry Core, November II. 1817; Maria, born on the 14th day of December, 1802, married White Morgan, March 20, 1820; Henrietta, born on the 4th day of December, 1804, was never married; Nancy, born on the 6th day of December, 1806, married Enos Gunn, September, 1827; Mary Tee- ter, born on the 8th day of July, 1808, married David Core, March, 1833: John Cutright, born November-26, 1809, married Hannah Tee- ter, January 17, 1833; Margaret, born on the 20th day of March, 18II, died July 7, 1814. Elizabeth, married to John B. Morgan, Oc- tober 7, 1820.

Captain John McDowell

was born September 24, 1798, near Winchester, Virginia. His father was Doctor William McDowell, who was born in Ireland and died in Chillicothe, Ohio, November 11, 1841, in his 81st year. His mother Rachel McClintick was born in Philadelphia and died in Chillicothe, in 1831, in her 60th year. In 1806, his father removed to Chillicothe. In 1818, our subject joined the Methodist Episcopal church. He was married September 20, 1820, to Mary Whiting Jefferson.

He came to Portsmouth, Ohio, on January 1, 1821, with his personal goods, overland in wagons and loaded them on a keel boat to go further west. After they were loaded the boat was snagged and sank in shoal water near the shore. Their goods were some- what damaged by water and they took them out and put them in an empty warehouse to dry out, intending to resume their journey. While waiting for their goods to dry, John McDowell concluded to try to sell some goods and met with so much encouragement, he concluded to remain in Portsmouth. He was a zealous and earnest member of the M. E. church and lived his religion, every day. In 1821, he was appointed a class leader in the Methodist church and took part in organizing the first Sunday school. This Sunday school met at the Academy on Fourth and Market streets until 1834, when the church on Second street was built, after which it was held there.

In 1827, he was a Captain of a Light Infantry Company of the Ohio Militia and served five years. In 1823, he was an Overseer of the Poor of Wayne Township and was such in 1826 and 1834. In 1832, he built the steamboat "Diana." and ran her as master. He and Captain Davis built the "Scioto Valley," a fine side wheel boat. In 1834, he was in the Commission business with James W. Davis as McDowell and Davis and was associated with him for many years. In 1836, he purchased of C. C. Hyatt and moved into the Moses Gregory property on the north side of Third street and remained there until he moved into the William Knowles residence on Second street, built by Captain Frank Oakes. Then the B. Kepner property

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on Second Street was bought, and the family afterward resided there. In 1839, he was inspector of the schools.

In 1839, he kept ferry across the Ohio at Portsmouth and paid a license of $50.00 per year. He was to cross every half hour in daylight from May to December, and every hour the remainder of the year. In 1840, he was Treasurer of the Portsmouth and Co- lumbus Turnpike Company. In 1842, he was agent of the Columbus Insurance Company. In 1842, he was elected mayor of Portsmouth and served two years. In 1846, he was active in the Sons of Tem- perance. He was County Infirmary Director from 1848 to 1854; 1865 to 1868 he was County Commissioner. In 1853, he and Cap- tain A. W. Williamson established a wharfboat and paid the city $295 per year wharfage. In 1861, he was Captain of a Military Company, known as the "Silver Grays." No man under forty-five years could be a member. From 1873 to 1875, he was one of the City Infirmary Directors. He built the three story brick on Front street, just south of the Washington hotel. For years he conducted a commission business in Portsmouth.

In his political views he was first a Whig and afterwards a Re. publican. In his church, he was esteemed one of the Saints on earth, and in the latter years of his life was affectionately referred to as Father McDowell. He was one of the few men as to whom every- one agreed that his life accorded with his professions. In his lat- ter years, had anyone inquired as to the best man in Portsmouth, in virtues, Father McDowell's would have been the first name used. He was a citizen whose memory should be sacredly cherished by his townsmen as the record and exemplification of all the Christian vir- tues. He died March 20, 1876, leaving a widow, five sons and two daughters.

David Nevin Murray

was born in Gallowayshire, Scotland, May 23, 1814. His parents were John Murray and Hannah ( McKean) Murray. He was rear- ed on a farm and received a good education in his native country. When a lad of seventeen, having a desire to try the fortunes of the new world, he embarked for the United States, and landed at St. Andrews, New Brunswick, in July, 1831. There he clerked in a wholesale dry goods and hardware store for three years. In 1834, he removed to Brighton, Beaver County, Pennsylvania, his father's family, having come to America and located at that place. He was engaged as a clerk there until 1837, at which time his father removed to Morgan County, Illinois, and he came to Portsmouth and became a member of the hardware firm of McNairn & Murray and so continued for six years. After the dissolution of this partnership, Mr. Murray carried on the hardware business for some twenty-five years, thus making thirty-one years in which he was engaged in the hardware trade. In 1854, he with Messrs. Ward & Stevenson erect-

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ed the machine shops and foundry in Portsmouth, now owned by the Portsmouth Foundry and Machine works. In 1857, Mr. Ward sold out and the firm was Murray & Stevenson. In that year, Mr. Mur- ray offered to sell the whole property for $10,000, but could not. It was to avert the panic of that year that he offered so low. After- wards when he sold out, he received $138,000 for his interest from Moore brothers. These shops built the cars for the railroad from Portsmouth to Hamden, then known as the Scioto and Hocking Val- ley Railroad. When that company failed, Murray & Stevenson were their creditors to the amount of $69,000 of which the firm lost some $9,000. In 1855, Mr. Murray built the Portsmouth Rolling Mill, assisted by James W. Davis and Charles A. M. Damarin. They each put in $10,000. They afterwards took in seven more partners and made the capital stock $100,000. In 1857, it went down and its debts were paid by five out of the ten partners, Mr. Murray being one of the five. In 1862, he and other prominent business men of Portsmouth undertook to get a National armory at Portsmouth but failed. In 1871, he was interested in building the Portsmouth Agri- cultural Works, which failed in 1874. In 1875, he organized the Citizens' Savings Bank of Portsmouth, and at the outset owned half its stock, and was its president. He was a member of the School Board as early as 1849. In 1882, he was elected president of the Board of Education and served several years as a member and was also its treasurer. From 1875 until 1880, he was a member of the Board of Health and was for two years president of the Board of Trade. He was an elder in the Presbyterian church for forty-two years, and a teacher or superintendent in the Sunday school for forty- seven years. He was the first man to introduce the plan for the super- annuated ministers' fund in his church. He was also the first to es- tablish a young men's prayer meeting in the Presbyterian church in Portsmouth. He was a staunch Republican. His first wife was Isabella McNairn, whom he married May 23, 1839. She died April 28, 1849, leaving three children: Joseph, now in Grand Rapids, Hi- ram B., a resident of Portsmouth and Mary deceased. May 14, 1850, he was married to Harriet White, daughter of Josiah White of Had- ley, Massachusetts. There were seven children of this marriage; the survivors are: Emma, the wife of J. Boyd Herron, of Chicago, Ills .; Addie, the wife of John Naesmith, of Marion, Ind .; Lucile, the wife of William A. Harper of Portsmouth, and Maggie, the wife of Mr. Kerner living in Columbus. Mrs. Harriet Murray is de- ceased. Mr. Murray died August 13, 1895. At one time, he was worth $100,000, but lost every cent of it before his death.

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A history of Scioto County, Ohio, together with a pioneer record, Part 103

Author: Evans, Nelson W. (Nelson Wiley), 1842-1913 Publication date: 1903 Publisher: Portsmouth, O. N. W. Evans Number of Pages: 1612

Author: Evans, Nelson W. (Nelson Wiley), 1842-1913
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: Portsmouth, O. N. W. Evans
Number of Pages: 1612